My mate wants to buy a MAC!! What do I do????

[T7TrainingSystems]

Mate of mine has a T23, he loves the quality, really appreciates it.

He wants to upgrade and video editing is something he wants to do.

He's worried that he's not getting enough power or features for the money buying a T60/T61...

He's going to a Mac shop tonight... asked me "What should I ask them?"

So...

What sort of Thinkpad should he buy and...

What questions should he ask the people at the Mac shop? Seriously?

[whizkid]

He wants a Mac. He'll likely buy a Mac.

For the price, he'll get a machine with a bit more power and a good deal less mechanical quality. It will do a great job for him for a couple of years, when he should sell it and upgrade BEFORE it starts to fail. And it will. But that first year or two are really fine.

The T60/T61 will get him a fine video card, CPU and disk. Good enough for video editing. You can't get Flexview new any more, so the color is not as good. There's also no FireWire. Those could be huge depending on his (desired) workflow.

If he's in a community of video editors who all use Macs, he should definitely get a Mac. He can't use all that fine software on the ThinkPad unless he wants to run OS X on it, and that's not easy or supported (but it is possible).

Keep us posted.

[bhurley]

I'm the first person to say that Apple has QA problems (every one of the eight or nine Macs I've owned since the 1980s has had hardware problems, most of them minor but a few of them major; in contrast I've never had a single hardware problem with any of the four ThinkPads I've owned), but saying that a Mac is going to last only two years is going overboard. I have quite a few friends who are still using Macs that are at least 10 years old; my PowerBook G4 is five years old and just as good as the day I bought it. The build quality is excellent and Macs can take quite a bit of abuse. I've dropped my PowerBook twice and there's not even a dent in the aluminum to show for it.

Basically I use my ThinkPad for office work and my Mac for music, video, and other personal stuff. Best of both worlds. They're both great machines, and I'd buy another one of each in a heartbeat.

[mgo]

Mate of mine has a T23, he loves the quality, really appreciates it.

He wants to upgrade and video editing is something he wants to do.

He's worried that he's not getting enough power or features for the money buying a T60/T61...

He's going to a Mac shop tonight...

There may be a support group in your area. Look in the phone book under "Mac-A-non". There, you can find other PC users whose family members or close friends have become trapped by the Mac hype and cannot escape.

Some signs of a Macaholic:
1: hides the laptop when others are around.
2: unexplained absence from the room while surfing wirelessly
3: placing Dell stickers on the Mac lid to hide its true identity
4: becomes very defensive when asked, "haven't you bought enough software by now?"
5: vehemently denies it when asked, "you've been at the Apple store again, haven't you?"

[whizkid]

I have to apologize. I didn't mean to say it would quickly become useless, but little things start to go, and those add up. My experience has been with others around me who use Macs. The MacBook Pros are fine machines, but the cheaper ones are... cheaper.

Still, my crowd can never have enough RAM or CPU so they are upgrading their Macs every two years anyway.

[mattbiernat]

my aunt does video editing at work and she is required to have a mac because some software is only on mackintosh platform. if your friend needs to use this kind of specialized software there is nothing you can do.
build quality of macbooks is fine but only in the high end models. if he gets a cheaper one then all i can say is "good luck."

[T7TrainingSystems]

Hi all, thanks for your posts.

My mate went to the Mac shop and discovered pretty much what you all described - that the MacBook Pro is good quality at $2900 but the cheaper ones didn't fill him with confidence at all. He said what all of you wrote "rang true".

Compared this to a base T61 for $1400 and decided he didn't need to spend 3k to get a quality machine.

He also doesn't like the way the Mac is non-negotiable in operating style, whereas he says you can set up a Windows machine how you like it.

So, those two factors were big ones and he's now looking at a T61 (or perhaps a R61).

Thanks all! Was some great responses!

[pianowizard]

Compared this to a base T61 for $1400 and decided he didn't need to spend 3k to get a quality machine.

I would never feel comfortable lugging around a $3K laptop. What if I get mugged? What if I damage or lose it? Even $1400 is bit too much. The most expensive laptop I've traveled with (and I travel quite often) was a $980 Dell Inspiron 700m.

[asiafish]

ThinkPad = Superior Hardware, Lots of Configuration Choices, Lousy OS

Mac = Superior OS, Good hardware, few configuration choices

Whatever works for you is the right answer.

[tylerwylie]

Kill him, there is no other choice. Once one actually wants to buy a mac, there's not much else we can do.







(Just kidding of course, Mac's still suck.)

[underclocker]

Every once in a while it good to cleanse yourself of the urge to buy overpriced, low quality hardware and succumb to all the aggressive and invasive advertising.

After a month of trying to use the "most friendly" computer made, one can always switch back.

I know, I did. It was very therapeutic.

[mattbiernat]

After a month of trying to use the "most friendly" computer made, one can always switch back.

I know, I did. It was very therapeutic.

oh i had 8 months of that. felt like working with a machine that doesn't want to work with you... eventually it got sold and i got a thinkpad. couldn't be happier, but i regret doing this mistake.

[bhurley]

My mate went to the Mac shop and discovered pretty much what you all described - that the MacBook Pro is good quality at $2900 but the cheaper ones didn't fill him with confidence at all.

The 15" MacBook Pro sells for $2,000 (or $2500 for a 160 Gigabyte hard drive and a 2.4 GHz processor instead of a 2.1 GHz processor, and 256 MB SDRAM instead of 128 MB). To pay $2900 for a MacBook Pro you'd have to be adding some bells and whistles. The stock machines are pretty powerful as is.

When I spec'd out a comparable ThinkPad with the same size hard disk, 2 Gigs of RAM (which comes standard with the MacBook Pro), same speed processor, the ThinkPad was more expensive by a few hundred bucks.

[KristianJ]

The 15" MacBook Pro sells for $2,000 (or $2500 for a 160 Gigabyte hard drive and a 2.4 GHz processor instead of a 2.1 GHz processor, and 256 MB SDRAM instead of 128 MB). To pay $2900 for a MacBook Pro you'd have to be adding some bells and whistles. The stock machines are pretty powerful as is.

Don't forget that the $2900 is an Australian price (which in numerical terms will be a little bit higher). I'd say that there wouldn't be too many bells and whistles added to the standard product.

[bhurley]

Don't forget that the $2900 is an Australian price (which in numerical terms will be a little bit higher). I'd say that there wouldn't be too many bells and whistles added to the standard product.

Ah, right. But if you go to Lenovo's Australian site and look for a ThinkPad with comparable horsepower, screen size, RAM, and hard disk to a MacBook Pro, guess what: it's a T61p and the price is higher ($3000 Australian), although right now it's on sale for $2900, same as the MacBook Pro:

http://www-604.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/store ... id=2056940

[pxa270]

It seems only you lucky Americans can get reasonably priced ThinkPads. Especially with the sales promotions that run all the time. T series starting at $915, X series starting at $1020, that's downright cheap. The cheapest X61 around here in Holland starts at EUR 1200 or so, which is over $1700, and that's excluding 19% sales tax! No fair
It's no wonder you see so few people around here with ThinkPads. It was like that with IBM, and now it's still the same with Lenovo.

[cj3209]

Used a bunch of powerbooks a few years ago (mainly 12" and 15" G4 AL models). Tried and tried to get used to them and to use them for work. Eventually got fed up as there were too many programs I couldn't use it with. Of course, now with the intel Macbook Pros, things have changed. But the reality of it was that the macs always felt sluggish and I missed the trackpoint. I really don't like the trackpads very much. Plus I just couldn't get work done on it; maybe it was too much fun!

FYI, the 12" powerbooks got so hot, I could fry an egg on it. My 15" 1.67 AL PB had to have it's mobo replaced after 6 months.

I switched back to thinkpads (a nice loud and warm T43p) and haven't looked back since.


CJ

[asiafish]

The original 867MHz 12" PowerBook was an oven, but subsequent models weren't too bad for heat, about the same as a fast T42.

Back in 05 I had a 1.5GHz 12" PowerBook and a 1.8GHz T42p (14") and I'd say that the PowerBook was the slightest bit hotter, but definitely usable on my lap.

I think that was perhaps the best pair of laptops that I've ever owned.

[pianowizard]

I think that was perhaps the best pair of laptops that I've ever owned.

Then how come you don't have them any more?

[asiafish]

Because like many I suffer from upgrade fever. The T42p became a T60p and the PowerBook went away when I started using MS Exchange. Office 2004 Mac is a very poor Exchange client, but 2008 is enough improved to have me looking for another 12" PowerBook.